❘ Printed: 2023-03-10T03:46:49
❘ Up to date: 2023-03-10T03:49:53
After his triumphant hard-carry efficiency in opposition to FlyQuest, we sat down with Pyosik to ask about his time within the LCS thus far and whether or not or not there’s any fact to Staff Liquid having stage nerves. Whereas he’s assured now, that actually wasn’t the case when he first got here to NA.
Staff Liquid has had an unexpectedly turbulent begin within the LCS for 2023. After a less-than-stellar 2022, TL traded of their star-studded roster stuffed with a few of the greatest gamers within the West for a staff made up of top-tier expertise from Korea and some rookies that had room to develop.
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Hong ‘Pyosik’ Chang-hyeon headlined the roster as a freshly topped World Champion jungler, and expectations had been sky-high for this staff when the LCS began.
They’ve since dipped far under these expectations and haven’t been in a position to dominate the LCS like many followers anticipated them to. TL have struggled, and most of their wins have been in opposition to low-tier groups. That’s, till Pyosik managed to hold his total squad to victory in opposition to FlyQuest, the present greatest staff within the LCS. What modified?
Pyosik and the remainder of Staff Liquid are nonetheless warming up
It’s taken a while for Staff Liquid to return collectively and make themselves seem like a roster that may really contest the highest spot within the LCS. Their file isn’t the strongest at 6-8 on the time of writing, however they’ve nonetheless obtained an excellent likelihood at hitting the playoffs in the event that they’re in a position to win each sport they’ve obtained forward of them.
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Pyosik himself didn’t count on Staff Liquid to have such a gradual begin. That paired along with his shock at how excessive the extent of play was within the LCS has led to TL having a tough file thus far.
“It was troublesome as a result of I didn’t count on for all of the LCS gamers to have actually good fundamentals. They’re in a position to do what they should do in-game, so it was quite a bit harder than I believed. One other issue is that I didn’t suppose we had been going to take this lengthy to mesh collectively as a staff, in order that made it tougher.”
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That stated, Pyosik’s explosive Lee Sin performance in opposition to FlyQuest has instilled confidence in Staff Liquid followers that they will have a really actual likelihood at a Playoffs run.
He spent a lot of the early sport placing his bot lane forward, granting TL’s bot lane (and himself) sufficient of a result in run over the complete map. Staff Liquid’s goal fights had been on level in opposition to FlyQuest, and it’s one thing we requested Pyosik about contemplating that combating round aims is one thing he’s struggled with previously.
“Often, I wish to play the sport in additional of a calculated approach. I don’t wish to gamble and take dangers. I attempt to play my video games via reasoning and logic. However, if I’m actually behind, I’ll go for the 50/50 in Smite fights.”
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This got here together with the admission that he appears like he feels “a bit of extra strain to hold” compared to his time on DRX. As a jungler who’s been on the receiving finish of a lot criticism in his profession, it’s no shock that he’s trying to show that he can take one other title.
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Is Staff Liquid actually having issues with stage nerves?
Even in Staff Liquid’s victories, they haven’t appeared very proud of their wins after the actual fact. That’s one thing that’s modified lately, with Pyosik getting crowded by his teammates after a hard-carry match being one of many first instances that Staff Liquid has actually appeared completely happy about taking an enormous win.
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This has led to hypothesis from followers and analysts that Staff Liquid is having some severe stage nerves. We requested Pyosik immediately about whether or not or not he’s feeling the strain on the LCS stage and, whereas he was at one level, he’s been in a position to transfer previous any stage nerves and is performing a lot better.
“There have been undoubtedly nerves. For me, I used to be truly extra nervous than the World Finals match for my first LCS sport. Haeri and Yeon coming in as rookies, in addition they appeared nervous a bit of bit. It’s not that a lot completely different from the scrim setting, so we’re getting used to it. Positively at first, however not anymore.”
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Solely months in the past, Pyosik was on the most important stage on this planet with hundreds of thousands of viewers. With the boldness he gained from DRX’s historic Worlds 2022 run, he was a brilliant and vibrant character on-stage with an in-game presence to match.
Although it could sound unusual to listen to him saying he was extra nervous to step onto the LCS stage than to face T1 within the World Finals, he was taking part in with an all-new staff and strapping in for a protracted break up in a rustic he’s by no means lived in earlier than. TL was clearly having some rising pains.
However have they gotten previous these rising pains quick sufficient to make a flawless run via their subsequent 4 matches and safe a spot within the Playoffs, no tiebreaker required? When requested about how assured he was on a scale of 1-10 that TL would make the reduce, he contemplated it for a second earlier than giving us a quantity: “7”.
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They’ve managed to win some of the vital matches within the coming weeks, however there’s nonetheless a protracted street forward for Staff Liquid to finish their redemption arc.